Times have changed, and going into a restaurant to dine in is not safe anymore. But what can you do to satisfy cravings or simply looking for a quick bite? Well, one way of getting food for you, for friends, and the family is by using food delivery apps. Food delivery apps like Uber Eats and Grubhub, allow you to order food from nearby restaurants with a couple of clicks. But the question is: how does Uber Eats work?
Interested to try out Uber Eats? Well, here’s a detailed guide that can help you out.
What Is Uber Eats?
Before finding out how Uber Eats works, it’s good to get to know the company and the idea behind it first.
Uber Eats started six years ago as a thought experiment in LA. The service was called UberFresh back in the day and started differently than other delivery apps currently out there, having a selection of only five items every day, on-demand, as a part of the original Uber app. The attempt went well. So well that Uber chose to increase how much it offers and go towards a traditional food delivery model.
Turns out, the public wants a more diverse food selection compared to how fast the food gets to them. In 2015, the Uber Eats app rolled out in the city of Toronto. From there, it has grown to accommodate orders in 200 cities and thousands of restaurants.
If you’re interested in seeing how Uber Eats stacks up against its competition, you can check out our DoorDash vs. Grubhub comparison article or our in-depth guide on GrubHub. If you want to know how to use Uber Eats, continue reading.
How to Install Uber Eats?
One can usually download Uber Eats from Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Here’s how to get the app on your Android or iOS devices. Before knowing how does Uber Eats work, we think its better for you to find out how to get it first.
Download the Uber Eats App on Android and iOS
Open the official app store for your device—Google Play Store for Android or App Store for iOS devices. To find Uber Eats quickly, just type in the name on the search bar and choose the first result that appears.
Just tap on the download button and agree to the necessary permissions for the installation to start.
Create an Uber Eats Account
Getting an Uber Eats account is simple. You don’t need to do anything at all if you already have an Uber account, as it’s the way that you can use Uber Eats’ features.
If you’re not signed up with Uber yet, just go to their website on your PC or mobile browser and fill in the required details. You just need a working email address and a valid phone number. Also, be prepared to provide your payment details later on the website or in the app.
How to Drive For Uber Eats?
You can create an application to be an Uber Eats Driver on the Uber Eats website directly. And without going through the application to be an Uber rideshare driver. If you’re already an Uber driver before you went for this service, you can opt into getting an Eats request on partners.uber.com.
Uber Eats Driver Requirements
You have to be 19 years of age or older (21 years old in Canada).
You also need to have a driver’s license, insurance, and proof of vehicle registration:
- 1 year of license history
- Vehicle requirements: 20 years old or newer
- Can lift up to 30 pounds
Bicycle and scooter delivery is available in some larger cities. Bicycle partners must be 18 years or older
How to Be a Restaurant Partner for Uber Eats?
Becoming an Uber Eats restaurant partner is easy. All you need is to complete an interest form which you can do on their website.
In addition to the interest form, restaurants must also give Uber Eats their name and details, the number of locations they deliver to, and their estimated weekly to-go orders received. If a restaurant fits the profile Uber Eats are looking for, they’ll most certainly become a partner.
How to Use Uber Eats to Order or Deliver Food?
Now that you know what Uber Eats is and have downloaded it, we’ll go through each of the steps to make an order. It’s pretty easy. With these steps below, you can take a pick on your food in an online breakfast delivery or order a three-course dinner for your family. Continue below to see how Uber Eats works for customers, drivers, and partner restaurants.
Enter Your Location
The services Uber Eats gives can vary from locale to locale. Enter your delivery address—it can be your house, a friend’s home, your vacation rental, et cetera—to take a look at what restaurants are available in the area.
Add Your Payment Method
Add in a credit or debit card for you to use when paying for the food.
Search By Restaurant or Cuisine
With your location and area entered, you can now go through the many restaurant options that are partnered with them. You can make use of the search feature to look for a specific restaurant that you particularly like or to find a type of food like Chinese, Italian, and more. You can also search by price to look for either cheap food or fine cuisine.
Browse the Menu and Select Food
Once you’ve seen a restaurant you want to order from, select the food items you want to eat to add them to the cart. There are times where you’ll see options that allow you to customize some food items or add-in ingredients. Make those choices before pressing “add to order.”
Place Your Order
After you’ve chosen all of the food that you want to eat, select your cart and press “checkout.” The app will put you on a payment screen where you can take a look at the order, service, and delivery fees of the whole thing, as well as the final payment. If everything checks out, submit your order.
Track Your Food in Real-Time
After placing the order, you’ll obtain a notification when the restaurant you ordered from begins to prepare your food, as well as being able to track the delivery as the driver picks up the order and brings it to you. The app also shows the user the estimated arrival time so you’ll know when you can expect your food.
Receive and Accept the Order
You’ll get another notification when the driver is near your area. So it’s a simple matter of going out to meet them
Leave a Tip and Dig In!
You have a choice of tipping the driver if you think they did a good job. After that, you can dig into your food.
Uber Eats Features
It’s not enough to know how Uber Eats works, but you also need to know about their features. These features can enhance your user experience with the app.
Smart Curation
The Uber Eats app allows many users to look at photos of a meal before they order.
Moreover, the app can suggest food based on your previous orders or your vicinity. This is a result of Uber Eats using Smart AI. This takes into account your previous actions through the app. This can range from restaurants that you frequently order from or cuisine that you prefer. This will allow Uber Eats to give you suggestions that you may want to try in the future.
Pre-Ordering Food
If you hate not having food when you need it the most, you should try Uber Eats. Uber Eats allows you and other users to order food in advance and have it delivered at your preferred time. The app will also allow you to track your orders to make sure they get delivered at your current location.
Restaurant Manager
This feature is more for the restaurant than the customer. If a restaurant gets an online order in bulk (e.g., they got a lot of requests in a single order), the Uber Eats app helps the restaurant deliver the food on the order in time and as hassle-free as possible. It helps the restaurant create data-driven decisions, and with this tool, the partners also gain access to data and insights that you can then use to fine-tune your food’s quality and delivery strategies to optimize user satisfaction.
Ordering Anywhere Without Worry
When you order food, a usual concern for most users is if their current location is suitable for delivery. This is very true when talking about places like hospitals, parks, and the like. Uber Eats has you covered in this as well. The Uber Eats app makes deliveries at places like parks, hospitals, homes, offices, et cetera. In addition to this, you can even make specifications on the way you would want the food to be delivered. Which is a great plus
Getting Complete Information
Uber Eats is all about giving its users an app that they can use with ease. The developers have made their basic pages to be in a user-friendly look and way. An example of this, if a user looks for pasta options, then they’ll get the results that are according to the search in question. You even actually get complete info about the dish. This includes the ingredients, how long it takes to prepare, et cetera.
Restaurant Dashboard
Uber Eats has a feature that can help its restaurant partners with their orders, the Restaurant Dashboard. The Restaurant Dashboard runs on either a tablet or PC inside of the restaurant. It and the associated app for the delivery couriers look like the Uber app that nearly everyone is used to and the courier version of the app a nearly exact copy that your typical Uber Driver has.
Due to this, Uber drivers can become couriers and deliver food to the paying customer. Couriers don’t need to get a car and can just bike or use a scooter to deliver food.
Pros and Cons of Using the Uber Eats App
The good thing about Uber Eats is how easy it is to use. The fact that it’s also connected to the Uber App (given that you only need to have an Uber account to log in) is a definite bonus because you only need one account for both of the apps in question. As an aside, users also can cancel and refund their purchases. But only when the order is still not obtained by the restaurant they ordered from. So it’s best to be decisive.
The app also allows restaurants to publish their food to customers and can help developing ones to get their food out to the locals as well. It’s a great way for them to share their food with the general public.
Other than that though, even if Uber Eats likes to say that they are a worldwide service, it can’t be farther from the truth.
There are some areas in the world that Uber Eats doesn’t have any way to deliver to, and they have to screen restaurants that want to become their partners. Also, some cities don’t have Uber Eats. If your location is not covered by Uber Eats, you might want to try other food delivery apps that cater to your location.
Uber Eats vs. Other Food Delivery Services
One thing you have to remember is that location is everything. It’s an important thing to consider when it comes to many scenarios and it’s important in the case of Uber Eats and other Food Delivery Services as well. For example, Uber Eats recently lost the ability to deliver McDonald’s in the UK due to the rights being taken by a major rival in JustEat.
Meanwhile, in America, Uber Eats is competing with other competitors like DoorDash, Grubhub, and Food Panda, among others. It’s practically a battle royale of food delivery services there due to the ensuing pandemic and people staying at home.
Another thing to consider is that while Uber Eats allows you to see what you’re ordering and get an idea of what they’re going to deliver, they only deliver from restaurants and establishments that they’re partners with. Other food delivery services like DoorDash doesn’t have that limitation, allowing them to have a more diverse picking of food that users can peruse and buy.
In short, it’s up to the users which of these food delivery services they wish to go for. Just remember that Uber Eats might not have the food or brand that a user might want, but DoorDash, GrubHub, and other food delivery services do.
If you want to read more mobile apps, Cellular News has a wide selection of reviews and guides that you’ll enjoy.
